All the Small Things
by Steve the Purple Dinosaur
Summary: Sequel to All for You. We felt we butchered Aster and Zane, sorry. we scraped chapters 2 & 3. We will do our best to correct this gross violation for Aster/Zane fans. All the small things add up to create a big mess.  we will try to clean it up a bit. :D


_**NOTE: this is the sequel to our story All For You. If you haven't read All For You we suggest you read that before you read this. A lot of what occurs in this story won't make any sense if you don't. Also, we, Team Dino, want to thank you, the readers and hopefully reviewers, for starting book two. We hope you think this story is just as good as our first one. School is in session, tots, and with our schedule, part time jobs, and extra curricular activities, updating regularly is going to prove to be quite the challenge. With out further ado, we present... this.**_

"_**Dino Babies! We make our dreams come true!"**_

_**Team Dino!**_

_Chapter 1: Any Man of Mine_

**Aster POV**

I brushed my hair out of my face with my fingers; since arriving here my hair had become considerably longer. I discovered that I liked my hair a little long, but now it was becoming too much even for my taste. Zane's hair was longer too; however, it seemed more drastic on him, than I, perhaps because his hair was originally much longer than mine. Then again, I did find myself looking at Zane more than myself these days.

He walked beside me as we approached the village we had spotted earlier. A little less than a mile back, we had passed a sign reading "The Village of Periculum,_" _and I hoped that these people would understand us. Just because Joan, Gable, and Eisenhower understood English, it didn't necessarily mean that these people would.

I rarely smiled these days, but when thinking about our new friends I couldn't help it. I wondered, not for the first time, how they were doing. Gable, the quiet one, was probably tagging along with Joan and Eisenhower who were probably head over heels in love with each other. I did wish they would have come with us, but they were headed to some sort of refuge camp...somewhere. During the small amount of time I had spent in this alternate dimension, I'd come across few people that were truly good. Joan and Gable were clear exceptions to that rule. I missed them a lot. _My back was still sensitive to the touch. I longed for Joan to clean it out again. The medicine she had been using seemed to work so well,_ and if it was frequently applied, I knew that pain would be nonexistent.

"We don't know the temperament of these people, Aster," Zane shook me from my thoughts, "We have to be careful."

"I know," I responded with a shrug.

"And," he continued, "We can't tell them that we are duelists. For all we know, these people could be big supporters of him. The point is, we just don't know, and we-"

"We can't be too cautious." I finished. He nodded, pleased with my answer, and he fell back into a quiet march. We had begun to pass a few small one story houses every once and a while, but now the small homes began occurring much more frequently. As the village transitioned into a town, and the town transitioned into a city, I began to see hidden meaning behind the towns name. Periculum meant danger, and this didn't exactly seem like the nicest area to walk through late at night... or in mid afternoon when the sun shines brightly. I chuckled silently at my personal joke.

I noticed an inn across the street and pointed it out to Zane who didn't appear to have heard me, too consumed in his own private thoughts, "Zane," I clarified, "we need a place to sleep tonight, and that appears to be the only place that offers that service." He nodded, and I added, "I just hope they take our kind of money,"

"For the millionth time, we don't accept that as currency. I've never even herd of it!" The Inn owner exclaimed. He began to walk back into the small room partially hidden behind the dusty makeshift front desk.

"No wait" I exclaimed, "This is ok," I was trying to convince myself, "We can work for a place to sleep, and it doesn't even have to be a room."

"Simply impossible," he said with a shrug. Our troubles didn't bother him; why should they? He walked into the backroom and shut the door, leaving us staring at a vacant desk.

Zane was leaning against a pillar with a thoughtful expression on his face. His gaze slanted down toward the floor where he seemed to stare at everything and nothing at the same time. I sauntered over to him, but his attention was not diverted from the dirty tiles, "This is just great," I complained, leaning my head on his shoulder and nuzzling into his neck, "I refuse to sleep outside anywhere remotely close to this God-awful place, and the next town could be miles away. We have no where to sleep!"

He carried an air of nonchalance as he barley nodded.

"Your very apathetic about this, aren't you?" I breathed making sure my hot breath hit his neck. A playful pout formed on my lips.

After a few long moments, he began, "What do you want me to do, Aster? Complain? Demand a place to stay? What can I do?" I pulled away from him as his voice grew in volume, "What can anyone do? Don't accuse me of being apathetic." his sudden blaze of rage was foudroyant. A frown creased his otherwise beautiful face. He replied at normal volume, yet it sounded like a whisper after his yelling, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to vent my frustrations on you."

"What's bothering you?" I asked neither refusing or accepting his apology. I didn't like to be yelled at, especially when I didn't do anything wrong. _Someone better be dieing..._

"It's nothing," he assured me, "It's just..." he paused trying to find the right words to describe his frustrations; however, he never found those words. As he tried to begin anew, a fair haired, pale faced girl walked through a hallway askew to the front desk.

"I heard raised voices," she muttered and blushed nervously, "Is everything ok?" I was frustrated this girl interrupted our conversation, and I was angry at Zane for snapping at me without good reason.

"Yes," Zane responded before I could, "We were just leaving," he gestured towards the door and walked towards it. He put one hand on the door knob and looked back to beckon me towards him.

"The truth is," I said, putting my elbow on the front desk in a seductive way, "we're traveling to a refuge camp for duelists," her face lit up when I said this. I glanced back at Zane who shot me an icy glare. I smiled on the inside, "and we needed a place to sleep tonight," she practically clung to my every word. I could work her almost as easily as my fans, "That man back their didn't accept our kind of currency, so we," I gestured towards Zane without looking back this time, "we're going to make a camp in the woods over there. I just hope we don't get robbed or worse killed by a bad person." I sighed and turned around to find Zane right behind me; his indifferent frown plastered on his face. I put a little movement in my hips as I walked and put my hand on the door knob, just as Zane had done.

"Wait!" she called out. I smiled, right on time. "I might be able to help you out." she muttered.

I pulled my hand away from the door and turned around to face her, "Really? You could?" I asked in a mock surprised way. Thankfully, she didn't catch onto my sarcasm.

"Um," she murmured, unsure of herself, "Yea," she looked at me, and a tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks again; She quickly added in a quiet way, "But you can't make any noise, and you have to be out of here before five forty-five. That's when my father wakes up."

"We can certainly do both of those." I smiled at her and the intensity of her blush grew. Oh yes, _just_ like my fan base.

She smiled again, "Great come with me. By the way, my name's Rosie"

"I'm Aster and he's Zane." I followed after her as she bound up a staircase and onto a second floor corridor. I heard Zane following behind me at a slight distance.

"I'm afraid this is the best I can do," she said as she opened the door and revealed to us our room for tonight. I frowned slightly, but covered it up. The room was slightly larger than a walk-in closet, and a small twin bed, pushed in the corner of the room, took up the majority of the floor space. On the wall parallel to the bed, a broken mirror hung above a bucket of what must have been water. Other than those trivial pieces, the room bore no furniture. The air was stagnant and hot. Tonight would not be comfortable, not by a long shot, "And, I'll come and wake you up at five twenty, so you'll have plenty of time to get out of here, and I'll have time to tidy the room before anyone will be the wiser."

"That will work," I said with a playful grin, "Oh and, I appreciate everything you're doing for us," I thought of the anger I felt towards Zane and placed a hand on her upper arm, "I _really_ appreciate it."

"No problem," she responded and scurried out of the door before I would make her more uncomfortable. I shut the door behind her quietly and turned to face Zane who stood with an indescribable look on his face. He seemed perplexed yet full of understanding, angry yet indifferent, and satisfied yet discontent.

"What?" I asked.

He shrugged it off, "Nothing."

**Zane POV**

Aster turned his head away from me to face the cracked mirror. He crossed his arms at his chest and scowled. I could see his reflection in the mirror. He was throwing a fit: unbelievable. I slid my jacket off and set it on the bed. "Is something wrong,Aster?" I questioned, making my voice cold and arid.

Glaring, he responded, "_Nothing_, Zane."

I wrapped my arms around his chest, holding him close to me, so that his head rested peacefully on my shoulder. He shrugged me off, roughly. The instantaneous action caught me off guard. But, I quickly recovered and pulled him close again, and again, with more force than previously, he shrugged me off. "Please talk to me Aster. I love you." I tried to get him to open up.

"hum." He turned his head and stuck his nose up. What made him so mad?

"You pissed off about something, Phoenix? Say it." I growled. "What are we? At Duel Academy, again? In high school? Where petty grudges control any and all rational thought?" I grabbed him with force and spun him to look at me. My hands wrapped tightly around his upper arms. "Say it." I shook him gently. "Say it." I shook him slightly harder. "Say it!"

"Don't yell at me," I stopped my actions immediately. "and, don't you think for a second, Zane, that I'll take your bull shit, cause I wont!" His breathing increased in speed, "I love you, Zane, and I want this relationship to work; however, if you continue to act void of any and all emotions, then I don't see how it can."

His once cold eyes were now soft. "Any man of mine has to do more than just say 'I love you,'_" _He wrapped his arms around my lower back, and he hiked my shirt up a little higher. The touch of his fingertips sent shivers down my spine. He gently pecked my lips and trailed light kisses down my neck, stopping at the collar of my shirt. "Any man of mine must _show_ _me_ he loves me." He smiled and laid his head on my chest. I gently helped him slide his jacket off. He grinned and began to undo his tie. His fingers not managing to get the loose knot. I nudged his hands away and not two seconds after, it fell to the floor.

I lied down in our bed for the night. There wasn't enough room for one person let alone two. That was ok though. We could make room. He crawled next to me and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible. I could see his deep blue eyes from the faint light of the hall way streaming through only the cracks of the door. Slowly they began to shut, and he placed his head in the indent of my chest. I smiled lightly and stroked his silver hair.

It didn't take Aster long to fall asleep. I was the one to be plighted with the difficult burden of being the last one awake. My eyes never seemed to leave the young man lying on my stomach. I had no clue how long I sat awake, just looking at him. I didn't remember, and I didn't really care. It could have been ten minutes or three hours. All I remembered was the hall light on his silver hair and the feel of his head on my chest.


End file.
